Khawaja, Marsh, Handscomb hit 50s

Earlier, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb all passed 50 as Australia posted a total of 5-288.

Desperate to shore up a World Cup defence that looked in awful shape after three wins from Australia’s past 21 completed ODIs, selectors made six changes to the incumbent XI and reshuffled the batting order.

Khawaja scored 59 during his first ODI in almost two years, fellow recalled batsman Handscomb top-scored with 73 while Marcus Stoinis smacked an unbeaten 47 off 43 balls.

The absence of a collapse was a big tick, especially after Australia slipped to 2-41 when promoted opener Alex Carey joined captain Aaron Finch in the pavilion.

But the hosts’ inability to lift the run-rate in the immediate aftermath of Marsh’s dismissal, on 54 in the 38th over, led to plenty of wisecracks in the commentary box about their cautious approach matching the canary-yellow retro kit from 1986.

Australia failed to find or clear the rope once between the start of the 37th over and end of the 43rd over, a stretch that featured just 27 runs.

Stoinis then belted two sixes off Kuldeep Yadav, taking 14 runs from the 44th over, and helped Australia score 18 runs off the final over but it was going to take some serious fireworks to conjure a 300-plus total.